I'm with Amanda on this--I wasn't wild about camera phones--especially with the movie feature--when they first came out, but the way they've empowered young people to resist unchecked authority has caused me to rethink it to the point where I think that when I eventually upgrade, I'll have one of my own. We have these weapons in our arsenal--ease of use, distribution that's impossible to stop (though losing net neutrality would certainly hamper us), and an increasingly tuned in populace. We're fools if we don't use them, and law enforcement, among others, is foolish if it doesn't respond in a way that reduces their unnecessary use of bullying tactics and ridiculous force.

But this extends far beyond abusive police tactics--though hopefully, the ubiquitousness of camera phones teaches security types that they better not slam high school kids around, breaking wrists and the like, for dropping cake on the floor, just like it hopefully teaches cops that they better break out the tasers only when there's no other option. We're locked in battle over reality, in a sense, which is what I was trying to point out in my Limbaugh as Winston Smith piece yesterday, and the other side has decided that they're going to try to impose their own reality on the world. They'll succeed, to a certain extent, as the legions of Rushbots have already shown--the claims are flying hot and heavy that Rush didn't say what he said, that Media Matters is the one doing the selective editing, and that Rush's doctored transcripts prove that point (let your head stop spinning for a second).

Rick Santorum: “There is no story here. It’s very clear what Rush said.”

The people who claim Fox News is balanced will trot out the old "these are all commentators, not news people" excuse, but it's not flying anymore. Fox News isn't running stories about Limbaugh changing his transcripts--they're not covering it at all, though they were all over the alleged phony documents scandal that Dan Rather is suing his former employers over. It's us against Fox News, people. Get out your camera phones and become reporters, because the corporate folks aren't going to save us.